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2013 Oscars


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From Wikipedia:

The origin of the name Oscar is disputed. One biography of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson; one of the earliest mentions in print of the term Oscar dates back to a Time magazine article about the 1934 6th Academy Awards. Walt Disney is also quoted as thanking the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932. Another claimed origin is that the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette's reminding her of her "Uncle Oscar" (a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce). Columnist Sidney Skolsky was present during Herrick's naming and seized the name in his byline, "Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette 'Oscar'". The trophy was officially dubbed the "Oscar" in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It may also have been named after the famous Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. In 1882, when disembarking in New York to begin his "Grand Tour" of America, Wilde was asked by a customs officer whether he had anything to declare and reputedly replied "I have nothing to declare but my genius."

I go with the Margaret Herrick story, myself -- that's the way I remember it from about 40 years ago.

Not a good show this year, though I agree with a lot of the choices for winners. That was a big surprise, Christof Waltz winning for best supporting actor; I nailed pretty much all the other picks. I was sad that they played off the VFX crew from Life of Pi when they tried to mention that their studio had gone bankrupt two weeks ago because of terrible studio pressure to lower effects budgets. It's awful when you do world-class work, and you can't make a profit.

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